Media Award
RWA's Veritas Award may be given annually for the article that appears in print or in another medium that best depicts the romance genre in a positive light.
2010 RWA Veritas Award Recipient
Gwenda Bond
Publishers Weekly, "Romancing the Recession"
Gwenda Bond grew up in the South surrounded by a family of readers and storytellers. In college, she studied journalism but now writes a little of everything, including a young-adult fantasy novel. Bond has written articles on different publishing categories before, including romance, and credits romance editors and writers with devotion to their genre.
When asked about the "bodice ripper" stereotypes that journalists tend to lean on when covering the romance genre, Bond said, "Such snobbery benefits no one, and I have to believe it's largely based on ignorance. Romance readers are the most often maligned and disrespected by traditional media and critics, which is ironic since they tend to be extremely adventurous in the bookstore. ...I also think there's an element of sexism at work—literary works written and read mainly by women are often not afforded the same automatic respect as those embraced by a male audience. This is despite the fact that we know women buy most fiction. And there's the added factor of genre fiction in general not getting its due."
RWA will present Gwenda Bond the RWA Veritas Award on July 30, 2010, at the 30th Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida.
